


Sometimes it's a Slow Burn - Season 1

by AmethystAuthoress



Series: Sometimes it's a Slow Burn [1]
Category: Community (TV)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Eventual Romance, F/M, Feelings Realization, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Gen, Other, Romantic Friendship, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Unresolved Romantic Tension
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-27
Updated: 2020-04-29
Packaged: 2021-02-23 05:02:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23872768
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AmethystAuthoress/pseuds/AmethystAuthoress
Summary: Annie and Abed grow to like each other as more than friends.This work is part of a series and is canon compliant, so it will follow along with the episodes of the show (each chapter representing an episode).
Relationships: Abed Nadir & Britta Perry, Abed Nadir & Jeff Winger, Abed Nadir & the Study Group, Annie Edison & Abed Nadir, Annie Edison/Abed Nadir, Troy Barnes & Abed Nadir
Series: Sometimes it's a Slow Burn [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1720477
Comments: 8
Kudos: 60





	1. Community

Abed never was that good with people. Sure, people would talk to him. He had been invited and welcomed into the film club at school. He had a decent amount of girls ask him out. They never really stuck around though. People would eventually get busy, he’d stop seeing them around, he was told he incited too many arguments for the film club, and the girls discovered that they weren’t really compatible once they got to know him better. They seemed to prefer him in smaller doses.  
Abed was never that good with people, but he was okay with that. He didn’t need people all of the time. He had characters instead - his films. The world made more sense in them and, in turn, he started understanding the world around him more through the lens of film. If people preferred him in smaller doses, then he could work with that. He did fit the bill for a smart, comedic side-character.  
Today he had made a new friend though.  
Jeff Winger had told him that it was nice to know and meet him (in that order). He also told him that he saw Abed’s value, which was one of the nicest things anyone had said to him. That was several compliments. Cool cool cool.   
He had been confused at first, when Jeff asked about the hot girl in Spanish class, though he tried his best to give proper information once he realized that the man had been referring to Britta. She seems nice enough, though she interrupted Abed when he tried talking to her last. She also was rather pretty, when he stopped to think about it. She was a good number of years older than Abed and around the same amount younger than Jeff, he would guess. Abed wondered whether the age gap would create added drama with Britta being a love interest for Jeff. It was more the norm for women to find interest in older men. Though there was that one time with the Inara Serra cosplayer…  
Abed was so lost in his thoughts that he walked straight into someone.   
“Oof - I’m sorry.” A high pitched voice sounded, as his arms came out to steady the person.  
Big blue eyes looked up at him.  
“It was my fault. Sorry.” He paused, tilting his head. “You’re Annie Edison. You’re in my Spanish 1 class - three seats in from the door, front row.”  
She looks startled and he tries to smile quickly, worried that he didn’t come off friendly enough.   
“Right. I’m late to a class.”  
Annie rushes past him and he realizes that he forgot to introduce himself. 

He got the opportunity to do so not long after. She was adding her name to a sign-up sheet on a board outside of their classroom. The mixture of visuals - the sign-up sheet, her cardigan, how perfectly smooth her hair was, the excitement in her eyes - made him picture her in highschool. She definitely would have been the sweet Honors student. Not Prom Queen, more likely to just be on the Prom committee, but probably had the athlete boyfriend.  
Britta’s hand on his shoulder caught his attention.  
“Hey Abed, there’s a Spanish study group that Jeff’s running. Apparently he’s a board certified tutor. You should check it out.” She said, handing him a paper with details before walk away.  
“Thank you.”  
Annie was no longer by the sign-up sheet. She was standing a few feet away from him, with her arms crossed and her mouth slightly opened. She seemed agitated as she watched Britta walk away.   
She soon was demanding that Abed give her the study group information (he divulged it) and he got the chance to introduce himself properly.

Perhaps Britta is better than he initially thought. She had gone out of her way to invite Abed to this study group, which was quite nice of her. His father would be happy to hear that he was being included in things - that he could socialize without being forced to see a psychologist who would be determined that there was something broken in him.   
Plus Britta had literally cheered when he entered the room. It made him feel like the quarterback coming into a high school party or locker room in a coming-of-age comedy. It didn’t fit his character, but was still nice.  
He was also glad that Jeff still wanted to be his friend. Abed was briefly worried that perhaps he wasn’t supposed to be at the study group, since Jeff hadn’t invited himself, but the man affirmed that it was okay. The mixed group of characters felt like The Breakfast Club, and who didn’t love John Hughes?   
Three people didn’t exactly make for the best group though. That’s why he was glad he invited more people to fill in the gaps. It also earned him a thumbs up from Jeff.   
He didn’t like Pierce very much, but inviting the older man seemed unavoidable. “Abed the Arab” definitely wasn’t a title he was hugely a fan of. “Princess” did seem to fit Annie well, just as “wonder boy” seemed to fit Troy. He preferred “Princess” for Annie over “Annie Adderall”. For one, the latter seemed to cause the girl a great amount of distress. She also seemed like the perfect damsel in distress, with the way she was always looking at him with wide eyes. Her soft looking hair and choice of feminine clothing also added to the persona.   
It hurt a bit to hear her explain that Jeff had proclaimed that Abed had a “serious disorder”. This is why he didn’t want to see a psychologist. There wasn’t anything seriously wrong with him - he was just different. He had hoped that this odd group of lying leader, social justice anger, racism, former star, struggling mother, and damsel in distress would accept that.   
The group really was strange. They even seemed to go on mute for a moment while on the stairs with Jeff. Abed wanted this to work.  
“I’m sorry I called you Michael Douglas and I see your value now.”  
It was a start of something new.


	2. Spanish 101

Pierce confused him. He wasn’t sure why the older man thought that he would be offended by the concept of people being consistently late. Abed did prefer things to go as promised, but he wasn’t going to become upset from hearing the word “tardiness”, nor was he incapable of understanding and accepting when people were late. The man also moved his hand back too quickly for him to complete the offered high-five.  
It did feel nice when Britta held his hand a few moments later though. Her skin was warm and slightly roughened, which fit her well. Her hand also felt nice on his shoulder and he liked that her fingers were smaller than his. He wondered how Shirley or Annie’s hands would be, in comparison.   
Jeff got to find out for Annie, when he took her hand in order to kiss it in greeting. It occurred to Abed that perhaps Jeff and Annie would make a good couple - the princess and the scoundrel, much like Han Solo and Princess Leia. The idea was quickly thrown away though. That thought didn’t matter, just like his consideration of how nice Britta’s hand felt didn’t matter. Annie was a whole sixteen years younger than Jeff. Britta’s six year difference from Jeff might add some slight extra drama to their relationship, but sixteen was far too much for it to be viewed as anything but creepy. No, Jeff and Britta were definitely the main ship of the group.

Annie was not happy with Britta. Maybe Britta thought she was all cool with her leather jackets and negative emotions and angry protests, but Shirley and Annie were just trying to work for a change too! I mean, who didn’t like brownies and dancing?  
Britta had apologized though, and that was enough for Annie. She had friends here - including Troy! He had been the most popular boy in her high school. The amount of times his name had been written in one of her notebooks…  
Troy had shown up to the protest as well. He looked so handsome in his purple hoodie and letterman jacket. It made her feel awkward for a moment. Like she was Annie Aderall again, in all of her loser glory.  
Abed had come along with Troy though.  
“Two candles please,” He said, “I need light so that ladies can check out my new shirt.”  
He added in finger guns and a quick wink, before bringing his face back to neutral. Annie couldn’t help but laugh. It had broken some of the tension in her. She wasn’t Annie Adderall anymore. She was just Annie Eddison. She was pretty and smart. Community college was a set-back, but that was the case for most members of the study group. They wouldn’t judge her as harshly here.  
She tried not to let out an anxious giggle as Troy’s hand brushed against her own when she handed him the candle. He seemed like a better guy now. More open and involved than he ever had been as a football player. Him and Abed even made a sign for the protest. She liked it.   
Of course, all good things must come to an end. In this case, it was Pierce running around while on fire.  
Abed found her in the aftermath.   
“Are you okay?”  
She had been angrily throwing discarded signs into the trash bins.   
“Yes, I’m just swell!”  
“Oh. The yelling confused me.”  
It took her a moment to remember that Abed generally didn’t understand sarcasm. As she turned to look at him, she also noted that Troy was no longer with the tall man.   
“Where’s Troy?”  
“He went home, since it was late.” Abed said with a shrug. “I live on campus so it doesn’t matter how late I stay here, though I did want to watch Animal House tonight, since it’s a classic college staple. Also I should make sure I get enough sleep so that I’m able to properly contribute to the Spanish conversation with Troy tomorrow.”  
Annie had never seen Animal House, nor did she know anything about it, but she usually didn’t get Abed’s movie references anyways. She wondered if Troy still lived at home. She would, if her relationship with her parents wasn’t such a mess. Instead she had her dingy little apartment in a sketchy neighborhood. The cutesy decor had helped her feel more comfortable and made the space look a bit more liveable, but it didn’t solve the issue of people screaming outside…  
“Oh gosh, I need to get home!” Annie suddenly exclaimed.  
If she didn’t leave soon, then it would be a lot scarier outside of her apartment. It was already dark and she had her pepper spray on hand, but it was still a risk. She would have already left, if it weren’t for-  
“All of these papers and signs,” She lamented, “I have to recycle them all before it gets too much later.”  
“I’ll do it.”  
Abed stood calmly, staring at her with his eyebrows slightly furrowed.   
“What?”  
“I’ll put all the signs away,” He clarifies, “If you want. I can be here later already, as I previously established. It felt like a good way to tie things together - the obvious conclusion being for me to clean up so that you can go home now.”  
She could only look at him for a few moments. Then she broke out in a large grin. Her arms were around him before she had time to process the action (which perhaps wasn’t the right choice, since he didn’t hug her back).  
“Thank you so much Abed! See you in class tomorrow!”  
Now she just needed to get home safely and rest.


	3. Introduction to Film

Oh gosh, Troy even sneezed cute!  
Annie was reverting back to her highschool state when it came to Troy more and more each day. He was just so masculine yet funny with a hidden sensitivity about him… Plus, how great would it feel for loser Annie to be dating the Troy Barnes?  
She also had been becoming closer to Shirley. The woman was an ideal mix of good friend and stand-in mom. She could have fun lunches where Shirley would give her advice. Annie was starting to feel like she could ask the sweet single mother anything.  
Jeff was aloof and Pierce rude, so she didn’t quite know either of them really well. She knew Britta better than either, but the woman somewhat...scared her. She always had a tough attitude and aggressive nature. Britta was sweet to her after she apologized at the protest though, and then there was-  
“Abed, how much does a film class cost?”  
Annie had watched in wonder as Britta whipped out her checkbook and wrote out the proper amount for Abed’s film class. The blonde woman had no hesitation about giving him the money. It took Annie by surprise (as did Shirley’s racist remark).  
When Abed showed everyone in the study group that Britta had written “for dreams” in the memo line, she was even more certain that she had misjudged the blonde. Britta really did care. It wasn’t just some aggressive act to look like she did, as her and Shirley had accused her of a short time ago.  
Abed didn’t quite smile, but Annie assumed he was happy. He felt like a puzzle to her. She was used to things slipping into neat little boxes. Abed didn’t do that. He seemed so detached a majority of the time, yet he also thought to help her with the sign clean up after the protest. She hoped that he would enjoy the film course.

“Here’s a quiz for you: Why did the pretty young girl die alone, surrounded by sweater-wearing cats who are trained to use human toilets?”  
Annie didn’t know why the professor had been so mean to her, but she was glad that she could hold in her emotions until the class ended. She kept her face firm, tried not to blink too much, and stood on her desk. She would not be the emotional train wreck that she was in highschool. She was at a community college, for goodness sakes. This was manageable.   
Yet she still found herself running into the ladies’ restroom the minute class ended. A good cry helped some. It didn’t really count as a breakdown if she was in private, right?  
Part of her was offended that the professor would say such things to her when he didn’t even know her. The other part of her was terrified that he was right. The only boyfriend she had ever had was her highschool sweetheart, who asked her out. That relationship quickly ended after he awkwardly humped her in the dark, not even touching her or removing the top of her clothing. She shouldn’t have been surprised when he came out as gay a short time later.  
Why would Troy want her? Why would anyone? Sure, she had straightened her hair and learned how to use a bit of makeup. Rehab helped a good deal too. She still was the same Annie deep down though - the fact that she was currently crying while sitting in a cramped bathroom stall affirmed that fact of life.  
Maybe this class would help her before it was too late. She just needed to swim in a lake and say “I love you” to ten people. She could do that. Yes, she could.

Abed’s father’s arrival was cinematic gold. His immediate anger spoke a lot about his personality, while the defense of him loving women and not being an evil Muslim stereotype quickly answered any questions or concerns the audience might have had about discrimination. Annie’s emotional defense of Abed gave the film some heart, while the minor physical confrontation built up the drama. It was going better than Abed expected, though a tad hard to film. Cool cool.  
Britta had become even cooler since inviting him to the study group. She had paid for his classes and was even helping him work out his financial situation. She made a good film mom. Which was good, since he knew he couldn’t get his own for filming.   
When he tried telling Britta that, she didn’t seem to get it though.   
“Abed, you know that I’m not actually your mother...right?”  
Of course he knew that. His mother had left them. Britta was also too young to have been his biological mother. He clearly meant that she was playing his mother in the film. Abed never understood why people thought he was too stupid to understand such things.   
Britta also got upset when she found out about the new camera, missed classes, and other expenses. It was for the integrity of his film, but he avoided explaining that to her. He could get much better footage from letting it play out naturally. 

The pizza was something Annie could really appreciate. It had been a tough week. It took her hours to talk herself into swimming in a lake, with how cold and public it was. The “I love you”s were proving to be a bit difficult for her as well, though Shirley seemed to have no problem saying it to anyone she came across.  
Jeff and Britta seemed...less than thrilled about the pizza though. She wondered if something had happened that she was unaware of. The breaking point hit when Abed offered to buy the drinks. He showed no reaction to Britta’s yelling, nor did he react when she stormed out. Annie wasn’t sure whether she should continue eating or not, with how thick the tension was.

It was hard to tune out the yelling, though Abed had some practice with it. The movie was so close to finished. As long as no one left before…  
“I’m finished!”  
They were still angry when he directed them towards their seats - his father, and his film parents. Abed really hoped that the film would help them to understand why he had behaved the way he had. It wasn’t a masterpiece, but he thought there was some spark of potential in his work. It was an art film. Just not high art. The casting and his editing skills ensured that.  
Jeff and Britta’s faces were scrunched up while watching. Confusion. That was the emotion they were displaying.   
His father was crying though. Was that good or bad? It could be an emotional reaction to a cinematic tale. Or his father could be grieving the fact that he had helped spawn such a weird child again.   
Abed had been really young when he was first taken to a doctor to be looked at. He didn’t remember much at the time, aside from being given a lollipop at the end. The second doctor gave him a Thomas the Tank Engine sticker. That was cool.  
The list of doctors grew as time went on. So did his problems at school. Abed wasn’t quite sure why everyone was so concerned about him. He had answered the questions correctly and he thought that school was about learning. The teacher had expected him to play with the other boys too though. He did not the other boys, nor did he see the appeal in being thrown to the ground, while dirty little hands hit him. He much preferred the dress up box and small toy trains. Like Thomas.   
The fact that he started hissing whenever another child got too close to him did not help things.  
The teachers always ended up calling his mother. She would race over to pick him up and hear the latest tale (“Abed wouldn’t stop pretending he was in a train today”, “Abed pushed Suzie Greengrass over during free time”, “Abed wouldn’t stop yelling ‘beep’ during the storytime”). He was happy to see his mother again at first, but she started crying when she got him after the first few times. He was taught that crying was bad.   
He saw his mother cry many more times in the few years he remembers of her. She cried at the doctor’s appointments too. They would ask him question after question, and his mother would just cry. When they poked him with needles, she would hold his hand and cry. When the doctors told her that nothing was wrong, she would cry even harder.  
One time she had cried so much that she stepped out of the room. The nurse had grabbed his arm to draw his blood, and Abed started screaming at the sight of the syringe. His mother was not here. They could not poke him when his other was not there. No matter how hard he screamed and how much he thrashed around though, she would not come back in. Another nurse had to physically hold him down as they tried their best to draw his blood. He had bit the nurse hard enough to break the skin. The nurse shrieked but he didn’t let go until he felt his mother’s hand on his back.  
There were no more doctor’s visits with her after that.  
She left them shortly after.  
When he got older, he realized that it was his fault. His mother would not have left if she did not hate how her life was with his father. She hated how her life was because Abed was weird.   
His father knew it too. That’s why the man had pushed him so hard to see more professionals. Perhaps, at first, he thought that fixing Abed would lead to her coming back. When it became apparent that Abed was both undiagnosable and unfixable though, his father dropped out of his life all together. The only thing Abed had now was a duty to take over the falafel business. He was failing his father at that now too.   
Perhaps that was why his father was crying.   
“My son is hard to understand. If making movies help him to be understood, then I’ll pay for the class.”  
Oh. Character development. His film did have enough of that potential to convince his father that films were in his future, instead of falafels. He was fine with falafels as a fallback though.

“That shirt is so cute! I love it! Love you girl!”   
Annie tried adding a little raise-the-roof action to her statement, but the passing redhead still looked at her like she was deeply disturbed. Annie was running out of time to tell people that she loved them. She had said it to eight people thus far (Shirley, her aunt, Britta, the librarian, the Dean, the crazy woman who lived next door to her, a hippie woman she saw while trying to find the river, and the horrible professor who assigned this crazy thing). She needed two more to get an A.   
Turning in frustration, she crashed right into Abed. Again.   
“We have to stop doing this or it’ll turn into a romcom trope. We are not romcom material.” Abed said, before cocking his head to the side. “Though ‘we have to stop doing this’ is a pretty common line for the trope.”  
Annie started blushing. It was weird hearing him suggest such things. It also was offensive that he said she wasn’t romantic comedy material. Though he did technically say that they, as a grouping, weren’t romantic comedy material, so she supposed that she could forgive him for the remark.   
“You don’t have your camera today.”  
The item had begun to seem almost like an extension of his body. Seeing his hands empty now felt...strange.   
“I finished my movie.”   
“Oh yeah?” Annie smiled, while beginning to walk in the direction of her class. “How did that go?”  
Abed, thankfully, kept pace with her.   
“It made my father cry. He told me that he didn’t blame me for my mother leaving.”  
“Your mother left you?”  
They slowed down as Annie blurted the question out, staring up at Abed. The expression on his face still hadn’t changed. She couldn’t tell if he was even bothered by the fact.   
“Yes. She left when I was six.” He said, voice still monotone. “I think it’s better for her being gone. She was unhappy, because I was weird. She had wanted a normal child to love. Instead she got me. She cried a lot when the doctors used needles on me and when I tried to get away from them. I think she’s happier now, without all of that. My dad was more sad and mad without her though. My film must have changed that to some degree though, because he cried, but he didn’t get mad. He’s paying for my film classes now. Britta’s happy.”  
Annie tried to process all of the information he had thrown at her.   
“They took you to doctors a lot? Did you get a diagnosis?”  
Her questions were met with a head shake.  
“No. I’m ‘the undiagnosable’.” He looked at her for a moment, before adding: “I saw a lot of doctors. They weren’t all bad though. I sometimes got lollipops or stickers. My favorite were the Thomas the Tank Engine ones. Plus I liked the MRI scans. It reminded me of being in a spaceship.”  
Annie could only smile weakly. She knew what it felt like to have family be disappointed in you. Half of hers hated her for having an addiction. That was something Annie had done though. Hearing that Abed felt rejected by his family from such an early age, just from being Abed… She couldn’t imagine what that must have been like.  
Her class was starting and she needed to go inside. She felt like she couldn’t just leave Abed standing there after what he had shared though. She needed to say something though.   
“Abed?” She said softly, waiting until his brown eyes looked towards her. “‘I love you just as you are’. That’s what your mother and father should have told you everyday.”  
His features seemed to soften a bit, even as his gaze narrowed in on her and her cheeks started to burn. She hadn’t been expecting him to hold eye contact for this long. He normally seemed to avoid it.   
“I need to go into class now, but, uh, I’m glad your film turned out well.” Annie sputtered, before backing into the classroom.  
Abed smiled at her quickly and raised his hand. Then he was gone.   
That small gesture gave her the determination to finish her assignment. Abed had been brave enough to start film classes against his father’s will. She could be brave enough to say “I love you” just once more (Abed had been her ninth). It could be anyone. She just needed to do it and prove her professor wrong.  
Annie Edison was not a coward and she would not die alone.  
Thus, as the professor came in and her time was ticking down, she got up on her desk and proudly declared:  
“I love you, Pierce! Even if you are a racist!”


	4. Social Psychology

A new project always made Annie Edison feel better. She was thrilled that her Psych 101 professor had allowed her to work on the experiment with the second year students (though mildly concerned about his comments on not being allowed to sleep with her...and the disappointment he expressed on that fact). Now she just needed two volunteers to bring along.  
“So, who wants to be in a psych experiment?”  
She tried sounding as excited about it as possible - which wasn’t hard, since she really was very excited. She even added a little bounce in as she asked, gripping her backpack firmly to maintain a level of center still.   
Jeff shot her down pretty quickly. She had expected that though. He was the constant pessimist. People sometimes acted like Britta was the buzzkill of the group, but Jeff could be much worse in moments.   
“Do they do stuff to your butt?” Troy spoke up.  
“No.”  
“Do we get paid more if they do stuff to your butt?”  
Annie couldn’t help but look at Troy in disgust. Who asked a question like that? Surely he was just joking. She must just not understand male humor.  
Troy agreed after she confirmed her “no” and she was overjoyed to the point of clapping. She could potentially spend more time with him due to this. They’d at least have something shared to talk about that wasn’t their horrible spanish class, or her horrible high school memories.  
She just needed one more person now. Pierce might agree, but she didn’t want to ask him. He was all old and confused and made rude sexual remarks - not ideal study material. She’d ask Shirley, but she knew that the woman would need to be home with her boys. The only person left at the table was Abed.  
“How about you, Abed?” She asked, with a large smile. “It’s tomorrow.”  
“Oof, tomorrow? They’re showing all four Indiana Jones’ at the Vista. I’m really looking forward to the first three. I bought a whip.”  
She needed him to be her second test subject. She needed two people and the only other person she knew enough to ask was Britta, who she didn’t rely on enough to trust to come. Abed had helped her out before - she was certain she could convince him again.  
“This is really important to me, Abed. Could you please go as my friend? My really good friend?” She added the last part as a final plea.  
His eyebrows furrowed as he looked down at her. He tilted his head back and forth, as he often did while thinking about something. Then his expression cleared some.   
“I didn’t realize that we were really good friends. I figured we were more like Chandler and Phoebe. They never really had stories together.” He paused for a moment. “Sure, I’ll do it, Chandler.”  
Annie was bouncing again, her hands coming up to his arms. She declared her thanks and hugged him quickly, yet again forgetting how he usually treated hugs, but also entirely unphased by the fact that he didn’t hug her back. The important thing was that he’d participate in the experiment. 

Abed wasn’t fully certain of why he agreed to be part of the psychology experiment. He had been trying to put more of an effort into socializing and sustaining friendships. He felt that he could proudly call Troy a ‘good friend’ now due to it. He really didn’t like psychologists though, after everything in his childhood. Plus he really wanted to go to the Indiana Jones showing. The first three films were always good and he had bought a whip. He would have had a much more fun time at the theater, showing off his Harrison Ford persona, than he would have in this room doing whatever was needed for the psychology experiments. That’s why it was so easy to turn Annie down at first.  
Then it suddenly wasn’t though. Abed wasn’t sure if it was the fact that she cared enough to push the point further or if it was how she looked up at him that made his desire to refuse her start to fade. She had seemed rather excited when she asked him, but that smile went away fast when she shared about his plans. When Annie got closer to him, putting herself further into his personal bubble, and looked up at him with her big blue eyes… She was Princess Annie again. The damsel in distress. It wasn’t Jeff who she was asking to save her though, or even Troy. It was Abed.  
He wasn’t meant to be the hero role in his actual life, but he had been planning on pretending to be one tomorrow night regardless, so it couldn’t hurt that bad. When Annie called him her “really good friend”, it solidified the decision for him. He didn’t generally have “really good friends”. Going would solidify that friendship with Annie and perhaps solidify his dynamic with Troy further too, since the other man would be going as well. That was the correct decision.  
Seeing Annie’s giant smile return to her face made it worth it. Her small body pressed against his was rather nice too. He didn’t hug her back, but he smiled at it. Annie was nice. 

Abed felt that there was something different about Annie when she walked in to tell them that the experiment would start in five more minutes. She seemed oddly excited and nervous. All smiles. She was often positive, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something extra this time. Maybe it was a really cool experiment? Imagine if he got some kind of chemical reaction to transform him, like the Hulk or Daredevil.  
His thoughts broke away, as Senor Chang threw a temper tantrum. He feared for Annie’s safety for a moment, as the spanish professor nearly threw a chair across the room. The man was gone quickly after though.  
Annie took it in stride, brushing off her skirt and smiling once more, before gracefully exiting the room as well. He smiled back at her. The experiment would start in a bit. Perhaps he could convince Troy to watch Indiana Jones with him after this. Or The Incredible Hulk, to go with the theme.

Neither Troy nor Abed knew how much time had passed, but it felt like hours. Everyone else had left the room. Their patience grew too thin and they’d freak out before aborting the mission. Abed felt proud that he stayed calm amidst all of the people acting chaotically. He also felt proud that Troy and him were the two strong enough to manage waiting a little bit longer. Annie would be so happy with them.  
He was hungry though. He also was rather thirsty, now that he thought of it. The conversations with Troy had stopped a while back, when his dry throat caused the sensation of talking to feel less than pleasant.  
Suddenly, Troy had burst from his chair and started screaming at Annie (who was not in the room). Abed was startled. Then there was only Abed left.

Annie had begun to feel guilt as she watched Troy’s meltdown. She didn’t feel like a good friend anymore. She had pushed one of her friends to the point of breakdown, while both of them had proven to her that they were willing to wait hours just because she requested it off them. She couldn’t back out now though. There was only Abed left and surely he would decide to leave shortly after Troy. Then she would go to him and apologize and it would all be alright.  
Only Abed didn’t leave shortly after Troy.  
Three hours turned into five.   
Five hours turned into seven.  
Shortly before the eight hour mark, Annie convinced her professor to let her go and fetch food and drinks for everyone - including Abed. By the time she got back, most of the other students had left. She added a second turkey wrap to Abed’s food plate and walked into the room, fake smile plastered on.   
“So sorry for the wait. Here’s some turkey wraps and a bottle of water. There’s a bathroom right off of that room there, if you need it. We should only be a few more minutes.”  
Abed simply nodded and muttered his thanks for the food.  
Another two hours passed and Abed was still seated in his chair. He had used the bathroom briefly, drank most of the water bottle, and had eaten one of the sandwiches. Annie had already eaten two sandwiches herself, plus a bag of chips. No wonder he was so thin.  
Two more hours went by, and the professor had fallen asleep at his desk. Annie had her spanish textbook on her lap and had decided to try to study.  
Another hour and Annie realized that she was not capable of studying, given her mental and physical exhaustion. She tried looking on the bright side of things. At least she was safe in her community college. There was her professor and a student nearby. It was definitely better than her sketchy apartment.  
By the next hour, Annie’s thoughts had completely switched. This was so bad that she would have accepted her dingy apartment with heroin addict neighbors if it meant actually having a bed to sleep in. Now she had to listen to her professor - who would probably hate her for bringing in a weirdo to screw up his study - snore instead. This was hell.   
Annie fell asleep around hour eighteen of the experiment. She was woken up around hour twenty-three when she slipped out of her chair. Her wrist hurt from attempting to fling her arm out to catch herself. That woke her professor up, who looked between her and the monitor in horror.  
By the time it hit hour twenty-six, her professor was on the brink of mental breakdown. Garrett was in a zombie-like state. The rest of the students had returned at some point and were staring dumbly at the screen. Annie had stopped feeling any guilt over inviting her friends to do the experiment hours ago, before she realized how awful Abed would make this for her. She had classes soon and here she was, a wreck. Her hair and makeup had gotten all messed up from how she slept. She had to wipe most of it off and had her hair fastened in an updo that matched the chaos she felt inside of her - held together by a spare pen.  
She had enough and opened the door yet again, trying her best to hold in the anger she felt.  
“Sorry you’ve been waiting twenty-six hours,” She grimaced, praying that knowing the number would set him over the edge, “It’s just going to be another five minutes.”  
“Okie dokie.” Abed nodded, without missing a beat.  
She would murder him. If she didn’t kill herself first, then she would murder him. The professor had already started to cry. This was possibly one of the worst days of her life.   
Her professor turning on her was the last straw. No more little sweet Miss Edison. This was not her fault and she would not stand her and get yelled at while the actual problem continued to sit calmly behind that darn door.   
They screamed at each other for a bit, and then everyone was gone. There was only her now. Her and Abed.  
She shoved the door open and yelled at him in her frustration.  
“Go home!”

Abed was furious. He had waited 26 hours for her. He sat there in that chair, minus bathroom breaks, for 26 hours. Not only did he not get to be part of a really cool Hulk-like experiment at the end of that (or be part of any experiment), but she had yelled at him. He didn’t have the time or energy to process this amount of conflicting data. It was just cool that he could go back to his dorm room now.   
When he next saw Annie, she had changed her clothes and fixed her hair again. Troy apologized for leaving the experiment early. Abed had waited the whole time and was still yet to receive any kind of thanks, so he doubted Troy’s apology would be met with anything polite. He was correct.  
It made sense once Annie stated that seeing how long they would wait was the experiment. He didn’t think Annie would be as cruel as to subject them to that level of mind game, but it had happened. At least now he knew that it happened for a reason.   
“Gotcha’? That’s all you have to say?”  
“Yeah.”  
What more did she expect him to say? He didn’t even know what their hypothesis or outcome was.  
“You sat in a room for 26 straight hours,” She said, as if he wasn’t aware of that, “Didn’t that bother you?”  
It did far more than bother him. She had ruined his entire day. No Indiana Jones, no hang out with Troy, no thanks for being a good friend.  
“Yeah, I was livid.”  
“Then why didn’t you leave?”  
“Because you asked me to stay and you said we were friends.”  
He only did what she requested. It was illogical for her to be angry at him for that. Especially not Princess Annie. It seemed out of character for her role in the group. Maybe he had pegged her wrong.  
She went quiet after he said that. It was better than her yelling at him at least. He could go back to focusing on his cool Indiana Jones whip and ignore the tension he felt inside of himself.  
The tension was quickly broken by the main members’ drama and he tried to forget.

Annie couldn’t stop thinking about what Abed had said. Once she had calmed down, taken a nap, and got more (non-coffee) fluids into her body, it became more apparent that she was in the wrong. Abed had just wanted a fun Indiana Jones night that he had been planning for. She coerced him into joining the experiment, asked him to stay in the room, let him sit there for 26 hours, then got upset at him over it. The fact that he did all of that for her, just because she said that they were friends… That kind of power scared her.  
It also was absurdly sweet. Along with being something that she needed to repay him for.  
She used almost all of her “rainy day” money to buy the DVD set, plus the extra few dollars to get the bag and ribbons. She wouldn’t half-butt this gift. It needed to be perfect.  
The choice had been a good one. She smiled to herself the moment she realized that Abed was wearing clothing that matched her little gift bag. Then she forced herself over there, and gave him the gift along with her apology.   
His demeanor seemed to change the slightest bit when he realized what was in the giftbag. She hoped he liked the gift as well as the gesture. She had specifically chosen a DVD set with only the first three films too, because…  
“...the fourth one blows.” They say in unison.  
Abed gave her a genuine smile then. A full one - not just his quick quirk of the corners of his lips. He showed his teeth and his eyes seemed to glimmer.   
Annie knew she was blushing a bit again. Especially when he tried to school his expression, but couldn’t stop the smile from sliding onto his face again when he looked down at the bag.  
“We’re cool.” He said.  
Thank goodness. It was fine. Abed was happy again and she hadn’t destroyed their friendship while being focused on herself. Now she could go off and find food to eat, leaving him to his cup of berries.  
“Annie?” Abed called out, before she got too far away. “Maybe we can watch these together sometime.”  
She thinks she would like that.


	5. Advanced Crinimal Law

It was odd how easily Senor Chang focused on the members of their study group, as opposed to anyone else in the class. There was a quick remark about Starburns, but that felt like a throwaway humor line. Abed wondered if this would make their group the protagonists of the show. Or the antagonists of Chang’s show.  
The plot was too close to that of a cheesy sitcom for him to not compare it to a show. The trope of someone cheating and needing to confess in order to protect others was commonly used in the high school variety. It even popped up in Mean Girls, with Cady confessing to creating the Burn Book even though she hadn’t (a film that Annie got him to watch with her after Britta wouldn’t).  
It would make sense for the cheater to be a member of their study group, if they were the main characters. Which meant it would probably be an emotional character building episode. Abed wasn’t good with those.  
He decided it was best if he didn’t get involved. Annie looked so upset when Jeff called her insecure and naive though. Her expression didn’t go away, even as she deflected the criticism off to other members. He didn’t like how her face looked when she was upset, so he chimed in when she brought up the issue with the school song.  
“Troy could do the school song. Troy invented rap music and he’s related to Danny Glover and President Obama.”  
Shirley looked horrified.   
“Abed, have you been racist this whole time, while I’ve been telling everybody at church what a sweet little caramel angel you are?”  
He wasn’t sure where that came from or what to focus on first. Why did she think he might be racist? Wasn’t ‘caramel angel’ also a bit racist, or was that some kind of food he hadn’t heard of? It was cool that she was telling people at her church good things about him though. That made him smile. Perhaps he shouldn’t be, since she seemed upset at him now.  
“Hey man,” Troy got his attention, “The stuff I said this morning wasn’t true. I was just messing with you.”  
Abed didn’t understand the fun or humor in lying to your friends. Apparently he couldn’t mess with someone correctly either, seeing at the lack of reactions to his first and second try. He even added in a laugh after his table joke, but still no response. He’d have to look into this further.

That was so embarrassing. Annie could not believe that she had actually screamed in the middle of class like that. She just had been doing so good this semester. The thought of getting a zero just because someone else had broken the rules… It got to her.  
It apparently had gotten to her so much that she even joined people in throwing balls of paper at Britta. She still hadn’t wrapped her head around the fact that Britta was the cheater. The woman did act like the tough rule breaker sometimes, but overall she was smart and had strong morals. It didn’t make sense.  
Abed came running out of the library, waving his arms and making strange noises. He just missed crashing into Annie this time (thankfully). He also slowed down when he saw her.  
“What are you doing?” She asked, confused.   
“Trying to mess with Troy.”  
She gave him a small nod, before he darted off again. Huh.   
That was an issue for another time though. She needed to find Pierce and see how his songwriting was going. This will be so wonderful if they actually end up with a song written by one of Greendale’s very own students!  
Soon she was at the room where the older man was practicing, and her feelings shifted quite quickly.  
This was a mistake. Hiring Pierce was such a huge, colossal mistake. Why did she ever listen to him?  
Now she had been listening to him again. For fifteen minutes. He kept playing two notes over and over again, so clearly having nothing written. She screwed up. Big time.   
There was nothing she could do now though. The actual musician had been fired. Pierce wasn’t backing down or admitting that he had nothing. She would just have to hope that he could pull something together at the last minute.

Abed was carting something into a room down the hall, and Annie was too curious to ignore it. She quickly followed him until they reached a room. Several people stood inside. One of them was helping Garrett to put on some kind of robe.  
“Abed? Are you making another movie?” She asked.  
He turned towards her quickly, making his confused expression again. Sometimes she just wanted to reach out and smooth his forehead when he did that. Straighten his head and get his eyebrows to relax.  
It only took a few moments before he naturally did that himself though.  
“Yes. It’s part of messing with Troy.”  
“How is it part of messing with Troy?” She asked, cautiously.  
Abed was setting up the television now, which was what he had been carting down the hall, and shooed two of the people out of the room.  
“I’ve been slowly working to make him think that I’m an alien. Or to make him think that I’m acting like an alien.” He said. “Troy said that I was bad at messing around because he couldn’t be fooled and my face was bad. I needed to up the game in order to properly convince him. It started with the basics - an alien language and some odd movements added to my everyday. Then I added in some chance encounters where I appeared to be talking with the alien base. Now I’m working on the final step: a video interaction between Alien!Abed and the alien base, as well as a secondary alien. That role will be played by Garrett.”  
Abed was smiling by the end of what he said. Garrett smiled too. This was all incredibly absurd, but Annie didn’t have the heart to tell them that. Maybe it would work on Troy. Maybe the handsome football player would find it funny regardless. Who knows. The amount of work that Abed had put into it was rather impressive too. She wondered what he would be like if he applied that same amount of effort to his school work.  
“Wait - did you really create a new language?”  
He nodded, while still hooking up wires to the television set.   
“Yes. I used to do it a lot when I was younger. It’s not too hard. Tolkien created whole languages for the Lord of the Rings series.”  
Huh.  
Her phone buzzes with a text from the Dean and she remembers that she’s supposed to be finding Pierce.  
“Oof, I got to go check on Pierce. He’s supposed to have the school song finished soon.” She looked up from her phone. “That all sounds really cool Abed. I wish you luck with...this. Maybe you can tell me how it went, after the performance.”

Abed considered the alien project to be a win. Troy did not believe Alien!Abed enough to be convinced, but it had freaked him out enough to agree that friends don’t mess with each other. Abed was happy with that. Sarcasm already confused him enough as it is. Purposely lying to each other as something that was fun was something he did not get at all.  
Now their friendship was back to normal. He could trust Troy again. Troy still thought he was weird, but Abed was weird, so it didn’t matter as long as the former football star still wanted to be friends.   
The next thing to focus on was Pierce’s performance. The music was completely stolen, but he seemed happy singing it. It seemed fitting that their school song would be a parody song. As long as they don’t get sued.   
“Abed!”  
Annie was waving to him from where she stood. The song was over.   
“How did things go with Troy?”  
“He told me it was insane and creepy,” Abed said quickly, “But he also said that friends don’t mess with each other, from now on.”  
“That’s...good…?”  
“Yes, I’m happy.” A pause. “Pierce stole his music.”  
“I know. He’s happy though, so I’m letting him have the win.”  
“That’s good I suppose.”  
“Yeah, I guess it is.”


End file.
